


do not go gentle into that senior year (just rage)

by hptriviachamp



Category: Bridgerton (TV), Bridgerton Series - Julia Quinn
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bridgertons Being Bridgertons, Desi Kate, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Gen, New York City, Private School, Rivalry, Rivals to Lovers, Senior year, idiots to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29924130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hptriviachamp/pseuds/hptriviachamp
Summary: Their rivalry began their freshman year.Kate was one of the new scholarship students and had entered high school with the intention to dominate- okay, maybe that was a lofty goal, but hey, she’d gotten a scholarship to a prestigious school like Grosvenor for a reason- and she wasn’t going to let any entitled rich kid mess up her chances at getting into Georgetown with as much money as they could humanly offer her.Unfortunately, she didn’t see the smirk-in-human-form that was Anthony Bridgerton coming her way.
Relationships: Anthony Bridgerton/Kate Sharma, Anthony Bridgerton/Kate Sheffield, Simon Basset/Daphne Bridgerton
Comments: 12
Kudos: 82





	1. In Which Our Rivalry Is Established

The first thing Kate Sharma learned about Anthony Bridgerton upon entering Grosvenor Preparatory School as a freshman was that his mom had to be super, super Catholic. Or Mormon. Or something else. Who knew. After all, what could possibly be another explanation as to why Anthony Bridgerton was one of _eight siblings_ ? 

Eight siblings, named alphabetically either for convenience’s sake, or because it was an inside joke taken too far- nobody was sure about that either.

Eight children in this day and age… Kate shuddered to think of all the work that required. You had to be either crazy rich or just plain crazy to pull it off. 

That lead to the second thing Kate learned about Anthony Bridgerton: His family _was_ crazy rich. They were so old-money, their fortune, according to Wikipedia, predated the American Revolution, and they'd practically intermarried among all the other old families in New York- Rensselaer, Roosevelt, Rokesby, you name it. 

But Anthony Bridgerton was surprisingly classy about that though- the only overt signs of wealth he displayed on a daily basis was the humongous Range Rover that dropped off the Bridgerton brood every morning, and the vintage Patek that perpetually graced his wrist (not that Kate noticed). 

The third thing Kate Sharma learned about Anthony Bridgerton was that she _despised_ him.

It began their freshman year. Kate was one of the new scholarship students, while Anthony had gone to Grosvenor's lower school since kindergarten. Kate had entered high school with the intention to _dominate_ \- okay, maybe it was a lofty goal, but hey, she’d gotten a scholarship to a prestigious school like Grosvenor for a reason- and she wasn’t going to let any entitled rich kid mess up her chances at getting into Georgetown with as much money as they could humanly offer her.

Unfortunately, she didn’t see the smirk-in-human-form that was Anthony Bridgerton coming her way. After all she had heard about him, she’d expected him to consider studies to be the least of his priorities, like most of his annoying friends- or brothers.

But no, Anthony Bridgerton was smart. Irritatingly so. 

They’d competed for every freshman accolade one could get, and Kate thought she was putting up a rather good fight, at least, until class rankings came after the first semester.

Kate had looked at the “Rank: 2” on her report card, horrified, before racing out of Algebra II as the bell rang.

And exiting the class next to hers was one Anthony Bridgerton. 

Kate staggered forward, her accusing finger pointed towards him. “You!” she cried when Anthony turned.

Okay, so Kate could have been more composed about it, but quite frankly, she was _tired_. She was fifteen-year-old with a fully developed caffeine habit thanks to late-nights spent guzzling black coffee and studying AP Chem notes, so she was exhausted and more than a little ticked off. 

At the age of fifteen, while most other boys were hot messes in the middle of growth spurts, Anthony Bridgerton always managed to look put together, and worse, more than a little attractive, if one was into the whole smug, “I’m American royalty and know it” sort of deal. Even his uniform was distressingly well-fitting and always perfectly-pressed, probably thanks to that Catholic/Mormon mother of his. 

_Anyway_.

“Sharma,” Anthony acknowledged, noting her clearly-frazzled state. “What’s up with you?”

“How did _you_ rank higher than me this semester?” Kate hissed, waving her report card in his face.

Anthony raised a brow. “How do you know _I_ was the one who ranked higher than you?”

“Who else could it be?” she snapped back before immediately realizing her mistake.

“Kate Sharma,” Anthony began with slow, sharp smile, “are you admitting that I am, in fact, your intellectual superior?”

“Yeah right,” Kate scoffed. “You’ll be my superior anything the day pigs fly.” She then snapped back to the issue at hand. “What _I_ want to know is, what did _you_ do?”

“Extra credit,” Anthony replied, deliberately being obtuse just to incense Kate further.

“We’re in all the same classes and I wrote, like, three extra-credit papers, and I know for a fact you didn’t do Winslow’s extra credit,” she rattled off.

“I got Agatha Danbury to give seniors a talk on mass media in developing countries.”

Kate’s eyes widened “How...?” she asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

“I know her.”

“You know _the_ Lady Danbury?” Kate shrieked, feeling more than a little envy, but mostly just rage. Lady Agatha Danbury (the ‘Lady’ deriving from a long-divorced husband who was a minor English noble) was the first Black woman to run a global mass media company before selling it off, making billions, and devoting her time to charity and campaigning for various progressive candidates. She was one of Kate’s icons, and quite frankly, Kate would have _killed_ to see that talk.

At this, Anthony full-on smirked. “She’s my godmother.”

_What?!_

Kate gasped, enraged. This wasn’t just cheating- Anthony-freaking-Bridgerton was using _connections_ to get the grade! This was ridiculous! This was a step short of _nepotism_! This was-

She snarled, “You _elitist_ piece of-”

“-Careful there, Sharma,” Anthony cut her off smoothly, nodding to a passing hall monitor. “You could get a demerit, and you don’t want to mess up that pristine record of yours, do you?”

And with that, he carelessly ran his fingers through his messy, brown hair, threw her yet another smirk, and _pranced_ away.

Oh yes, Kate had thought as she watched his retreating figure. She absolutely _despised_ Anthony Bridgerton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome abroad the Hot Mess Express.
> 
> Apologies to Dylan Thomas for royally butchering the title of his poem.


	2. In Which Our Heroine Gets A Little Too Much Praise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three years later...

It was supposed to be a good day.

Wednesday, hump day, was supposed to be a _good_ day. Kate had Micro, Stats, Lit, and Gov (all AP, of course), and since it was only a couple weeks into senior year, she could count on her teachers to _not_ saddle the twelfth-grade population with a ridiculous workload just yet. Plus, her and Gen were planning to get coffee after school, which was nice.

Anyway, it was supposed to be a good day, that is, until her younger half-sister Edwina flew home from London to resume her studies at Grosvenor.

It’s not that Kate hated Edwina- no, far from it. She was the best sister a girl could ever ask for- kind (if a tad bit naive), tenacious, and loyal. Until about six months ago, Edwina had just been one of the hotter girls at Grosvenor, but everything changed the moment she got scouted and swiftly signed a contract with one of the biggest modelling agencies in the country. 

(The term “ _exotic_ ” had been mentioned _way_ too many times in those contract meetings and it made Kate want to stab the agent with her salad fork, but hey, anything for Edwina). 

From there, it had been a litany of fittings, shoots, and travel the entire summer for her. But now, Edwina was back in the city to make her debut at New York Fashion Week, and in the meanwhile, try to do as much of her junior year in-person as she could.

Here’s the thing: the problem with Edwina returning wasn’t Edwina herself, but all the unwanted _attention_ she got. And that had only magnified when word quickly spread among the student body of Grosvenor that they were going to school with an honest-to-god _runway model_.

The second Kate and Edwina entered Grosvenor on Wednesday morning, Edwina had been mobbed by a crowd of adoring girls and guys alike, and within minutes had gotten asked out to the movies, Per Se (“my family has a standing reservation”), a party on the UWS (“I know guys from _Columbia_ ”), and the Hamptons (“we have a house there”). Kate would have found it all hysterical had Edwina not looked mildly panicked and pretty much fled into her first-period classroom for refuge.

You see, Kate took her job as Edwina’s older sister seriously. After all, she'd been the one to hold her sister’s hand and drag her across the street when some randos catcalled her at the age of _thirteen_ . She’d been the one to help Edwina get over a bad break-up and the one who plotted and successfully carried out the social ruination of the asshole ex in question (the less asked about _that_ incident, the better).

She was Edwina’s protector, her bona-fide bodyguard, and she was _not_ about to let another jerkwad use her sister and then conveniently discard her.

That’s why when Kate entered the cafeteria on Wednesday during lunch, she was more than a little taken aback to see the company Edwina was keeping. 

“Gen,” she muttered to her friend Genevieve Delacroix, “why is Edwina sitting _there_?”

Gen followed her gaze and took in the sight of Edwina sitting at one of the corner high-top tables, her long legs swinging back and forth as she spoke animatedly with a pack of practically-panting boys surrounding her. 

“Cressie?” Gen suggested with a smirk, jerking her chin towards where Cressida Cowper was sitting so close to Edwina, she was probably hoping some of that attention would rub off on her.

“Gen, nobody would _voluntarily_ sit with Cressida Cowper,” Kate said bluntly, her eyes still trained on her sister.

“Good point. Daphne’s there too. Isn’t she friends with your sister?”

Sure enough Daphne Bridgerton was at that table too, eying Edwina’s next-season Manolo slingbacks (that she’d gotten for _free_ after a shoot) in considerable awe. And of course, where Daphne went, Simon Basset wasn’t far behind. He’d slung an arm around his girlfriend’s shoulder and was watching the scene before him with vague amusement.

And where Simon Basset was…

Kate scowled, catching sight of a familiar mop of dark brown hair among Edwina’s admirers, too close to be entirely innocent, and certainly too close for Kate’s comfort.

 _Anthony-Freaking-Bridgerton_.

Everyone knew Anthony was back on the market after a messy break-up with Siena Rosso. Apparently, she didn’t want any baggage weighing her down before she left for college- and Anthony was that baggage. So after an entire summer of posting particularly unsubtle shirtless photos (not that Kate noticed), Anthony Bridgerton had returned to Grosvenor very single, very eligible, and now, so very, very dead.

Kate didn’t even realize she was storming towards her nemesis until she was halfway there and Gen called behind her, “Kate! What are you doing?”

Unfortunately, before she could reach her target, Edwina caught sight of her. 

“Kate!” her sister trilled and beckoned her forward. “I was just talking about you!”

“You were?” Kate asked, immediately weary. She elbowed her way through Edwina’s crowd of admirers to reach her sister. Edwina threw an affectionate arm around Kate before turning to address her captivated audience.

“Kate’s the _best_ ,” Edwina gushed, flashing the group of boys a megawatt smile that probably would have made them faint had it not been for the excellent air conditioning in Grosvenor’s cafeteria. Cressida adopted an expression of someone who’d drank kombucha for the first time. Edwina went on, “She helped me research all the modelling agency and contract stuff- you wouldn’t _believe_ the way they try to take advantage of models-” Edwina shuddered delicately, then immediately perked up, “-anyway, Kate pretty much saved me, and I don’t think I could do anything without her!”

Kate winced. Why did Edwina make her sound like a control freak? “I mean,” she attempted awkwardly, “you _are_ your own person. You make decisions just fine.”

“But you have _such_ great instincts,” Edwina cooed affectionately, somehow tightening her skinny arm around Kate. Though it didn’t look like it, Edwina’s arms had some serious muscles, and they were currently cutting off circulation in Kate’s shoulder. This also prevented her from unpleasantly glowering at Anthony so he could get a hint and back off. “And your advice hasn’t failed me yet!”

“And has this advice included anyone… you’ve dated?” A smug voice asked from Kate’s right. 

Kate’s neck cracked with how quickly she turns her head. Of course, there was Anthony, failing to make his smirk seem like an innocent smile directed at Edwina.

Edwina nodded enthusiastically. “Definitely! Kate’s met every one of my dates.” She then added a damning, “She’s never been wrong about _any_ of them.” 

Kate groaned.

Gen would later tell her that every boy in the vicinity adopted the same expression of cognizance, their two brain-cells clearly having rubbed together to come to the same realization at once. 

But Kate wasn’t watching them- she was focused on one boy in particular:

Because Anthony Bridgerton wasn’t looking at Edwina anymore.

He was looking at _her_.

Grinning.

Diabolically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apart from Eloise and Pen, there really aren’t a lot of female friendships going on in the series, which is why I just made Genevieve Delacroix Kate’s friend- she seems like the sharp but fun type and Kate would get along with her.
> 
> Let me know what y'all think!
> 
> And check out my tumblr @hptriviachamp


End file.
